Texans win 19-14 over Titans to close out the game

HOUSTON (AP) — After coming oh-so close in their past two games, the Houston Texans finally got over the hump Saturday with a win over the Tennessee Titans to snap a nine-game skid.

Houston (2-12-1) beat Tennessee 19-14 For its first victory since beating Jacksonville Jaguars on October 9.

The Texans entered Saturday’s game having lost to the Cowboys 27-23 two weeks ago before falling to 30-24 to the Chiefs in overtime last week.

In the loss to Kansas CityHouston was defeated by the Chiefs in overtime after Davis Mills had a fumble.

Mills managed to pull off a win this past weekend. With just three minutes remaining, he connected with Brandin Cooks for a 6-yard touchdown to bring the Texans to victory.

Rookie Christian Harris intercepted Malik Willis with about 1:30 left and fellow rookie Jalen Pitre grabbed his desperation throw in the end zone as time expired to secure Houston’s win.

“We’ve been competitive throughout,” coach Lovie Smith said. “And it just takes time is the message. You want to win every single game the moment you arrive. But when you’re changing culture, you’re changing all these things. And you need to go through some adversity to figure out exactly who’s with us. So that’s what we went through there.”

Mills has been through a lot this season, and was even benched in the Cowboys game after throwing 11 interceptions over 10 games.

He threw for 178 yards and a touchdown to Houston on Saturday.

“You can be down,” Smith said. “If you keep fighting, there’s a chance for you to get that bad taste out of your mouth.”

Mills was impressed by the teamwork of his teammates during this season.

“The record is what it is at this point, but we’re coming and fighting for everything we can do, week in and week out to try to go out there and scratch our way to get some wins,” he said.

WHAT’S WORKING

Houston forced three turnovers, a record for this season, in the second of three games on Saturday. Smith continually preaches the importance of takeaways and his team’s ability to get them in recent weeks is a major reason why the Texans have been more competitive.

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO DO?

For their seventh game in a row, the Texans allowed 184 rushing yards Saturday. This is compared to 170 rushing yards or more this season. Houston ranks last in NFL in allowing 168.6 yards per rush in a game.

“We missed tackles at some critical moments is what has happened,” Smith said. “And if you miss certain tackles in critical moments, it can be a breakout.”

STOCK UP

Harris, who was a Third-round pick this season, is now playing well after his rookie season, which started slow after he missed the first five matches with a hamstring strain.

He had six tackles and his interception on Saturday was his first in his career. After he had 13 tackles (including three for losses) against the Chiefs, he performed that performance.

STOCK DOWN

RB Royce Freeman ran for just 32 yards on 16 carries against Tennessee, his second game in the replacement of Dameon Pierce who has an ankle injury. This subpar performance came one week after he ran for 51 yards on only 11 carries during his season debut.

INJURIES

Saturday’s concussions included those of OL Tytus Howard (DB M.J. Stewart) and OL Tytus Howard (OL Tytus Howard). … TE Teagan Ecuadoriano injured a knee in the Titans game.

KEY NUMBER

9 — The Texans have won nine consecutive games against their next opponent, the Jaguars. Jacksonville, which is vying with Tennessee for the AFC South title, hasn’t beaten Houston since a 45-7 victory on Dec. 17, 2017.

NEXT STEPS

The Texans play Jacksonville in their home final Sunday before wrapping up the regular season at Indianapolis Jan. 8.

“The fact that we are finishing it off with divisional opponents, that’s awesome to try to gain that momentum at the end of the season,” Cooks said.

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